Monday, June 11, 2012

Interview with Mystery Author Tom Wallace

Meet Tom Wallace, our guest today at ATW. I read his latest book, GNOSIS,
and enjoyed it very much. Here's a bi about the book before we start the
interview: Murder, mystery and redemption are at the
heart of “Gnosis.”

Detective Jack Dantzler has no clue why he has
been summoned to the prison to meet with the Reverend Eli Whitehouse, a man
convicted of committing a double murder twenty-nine years ago.

He is stunned when Eli claims to be innocent and
wants Dantzler to prove it. But Eli only gives Dantzler a single clue—look at
the obituaries in the local paper for a specific two-week period.

Reluctantly, Dantzler agrees to look into the case. As he does,
two more people are brutally murdered. And although Dantzler isn’t aware of it,
he has become a target for the killer. Dantzler goes back to Eli and pleads for
another clue. All Eli says is, “think of Jesus’s empty tomb.” It will be this
whispered utterance that unlocks the mystery and reveals the killer’s identity.
But this isn’t just any ordinary killer. This is a man with a dark and bloody
past, a man with connections to the highest levels of organized crime. Dantzler
is now on the trail of an ice-cold assassin, fully aware that one slip will
mean instant death.

Sometimes having
too much knowledge can lead to deadly consequences.

**************

And now, our
interview.

KG: I enjoyed your mystery, GNOSIS, although I'm not sure
that's exactly what it is. I'm guessing it lies between a thriller, police
procedural, and suspense. What do you prefer to call it?

TW: You’re correct .
. . it does have a touch of thriller, police procedural and suspense, but I’ll
stick with mystery, since that’s what is on the cover. Wouldn’t want to mislead
my readers.

KG: How did you get interested in mystery writing?

TW: I had started
several ‘serious’ novels over the years, only to realize that I didn’t have
what it takes to write that stuff. I’m no Norman Mailer or Philip Roth. In
1989, I started a mystery and it took off. It was titled Match Point. It was eventually published in 2006 as The Devil’s Racket, which was my second
novel. The first was What Matters Blood.
Those two, like Gnosis, feature
Detective Jack Dantzler as lead character. I also wrote Heirs of Cain, which is a thriller about a plot to kill the U.S.
president and three Middle East leaders, and the hero, Cain’s, attempt to stop
it. That book was finished in 1992 and wasn’t published until 2010. So, as you
can see, I’m persistent, if nothing else.

KG: Why the cop protagonist? Have you been a police officer?
If not, where did you learn police procedure? Have you taken Citizen Police
Academy courses? Read forensic books?

TW: Originally, my
protagonist wasn’t a cop. In Match Point,
the hero was David Gideon, a former pro tennis player. But after failing to get
either Match Point or Heirs of Cain published, I wrote What Matters Blood, in which I created
the Dantzler character. After that was published, I went back and reworked Match Point by making it another
Dantzler novel, which actually made more sense from a realism standpoint.
Better a seasoned cop go after a brutal killer than a former tennis player. No,
I’m a former sportswriter/editor and have never been a cop. Nor have I taken
courses or read forensic books. It all comes from my own sick, twisted mind.

KG: Your protagonist has some unusual views of life and
religion. Hence the title, the Greek word for knowledge. Where does Detective
Dantzler get his philosophical ideas from? Have you studied this field? Do any
of your views creep in?

TW: Dantzler needs
only to finish that pesky dissertation to have a doctorate in philosophy.
That’s made clear in What Matters Blood.
So he’s a sharp guy. I have never officially studied philosophy or religion,
but I do quite a bit of reading in both areas. Yes, of course, some of my views
creep into the story. But I do try to present things in a fair manner. I never
intend to be preachy. In Gnosis, for
instance, every point of view stated by Dantzler is challenged by someone else.
That way, a reader can choose whichever side he or she agrees with.

KG: I got a kick out of the policeman who is writing a novel
and has landed an agent. Is this based on your experience at all? Have you had
to change an ending for publication?

TW: I have tried to
land an agent since 1989 and haven’t come close to succeeding. That’s a
particular sore point for me. Even with four novels and seven sports-related
books published, I can’t garner any interest from agents. By now, I’ve given up
hope that it will happen. As to the question of whether I’ve had to change an
ending, the answer is, no, I have not.

KG: I also got a kick out of a cop who drinks Pernod. It's
nice they're not all drinking coffee and eating donuts all the time. Can you
tell us what inspired that personality quirk?

TW: You know the
answer to that one. Pernod and orange juice is one of my favorite drinks. If
it’s good enough for me, it’s good enough for Jack Dantzler.

KG: You've published with more than a couple presses. What
can you tell us about your experiences with them?

TW: I’ve had four
novels published by four different publishers, and my experience has been a
positive one. I’ve been really lucky. All have been fair, honest and
professional, which is about all you can ask of any publisher.

KG: Tell us about the Kentucky Basketball Encyclopedia.

TW: The third edition
just came out this past March. The first two editions came out in 2001 and
2002. It is an in-depth history of University of Kentucky basketball, going all
the way back to 1903 and continuing to the 2010-11 season. It runs about 465
pages, and originally took me more than three years to research and write. If
someone is a Kentucky basketball fan, this is a book he or she will love.

KG: What's next for you?

TW: I’m about halfway
through my next novel, titled The List.
It is a thriller that features Cain, the legendary assassin from Heirs of Cain, and the Dantzler
character. I think it is going to be very good, maybe the best book I’ve
written. After that, who knows? Keep plugging away, I guess.

Thanks for appearing here today, Tom! Good luck on the
future writings.

2 comments:

Great interview! Having read this book, I was really curious to know more about the writer and I loved some of the questions you asked. In particular, the Pernod and religion stuff. Nice work and thanks to Tom for being with us!